Are you looking for a nonpartisan voter guide to the Paul LePage vs. Mike Michaud vs. Eliot Cutler Governor's race? One that will give you an unbiased, no-spin comparison of candidate positions on key issues? That's what our Campus Election Engagement Project guide will give you! We are a national nonpartisan initiative working with college and university administrators, faculty, and student leaders to increase student participation in America's elections. For the 2014 elections we have created and distributed voter guides to campuses in more than 20 states so they can provide their communities with accurate information for informed voting. Because these guides have been so well received and are useful for all voting citizens who want to be better informed, we are also posting them here.
We developed our guides by analyzing information from trusted resources such as www.votesmart.org, www.ontheissues.org, www.ballotpedia.com, www.politifact.com, www.factcheck.org, www.vote411.org and from candidate websites, public debates and interviews, and statements in major media outlets. We also showed them to groups like campus Young Republicans and Young Democrats at the schools we work with to verify their fairness and lack of bias.
So here are the issue-by-issue stands for Paul LePage, Mike Michaud and Eliot Cutler, with additional links at the bottom for each candidate if you'd like to dig deeper. (You can also find Maine's Senate guide here.)
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Education: Do you support increasing funding for K-12 education?
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes, plus expanded pre-K access
Cutler: Yes
Education: Do you support providing vouchers to parents to send their children to private schools with public money?
LePage: Yes
Michaud: No
Cutler: No
Education: Do you support increasing funding for higher education?
LePage: No
Michaud: Unclear but supports increased public education funding in general, supported increased federal financial aid while in Congress.
Cutler: Unclear but supports tuition free attendance to be paid back from future earnings. (Cutler proposes tuition-free attendance at public higher education institutions in exchange for paying a small percentage of income for 20 years into a state fund.)
Elections: Do you support increasing restrictions on campaign donations?
LePage: No. Cut public funding for candidates. (LePage proposed a $4 million cut to Maine's first-in-nation Clean Elections Act which provides public funding for legislative and gubernatorial elections, and suspended the public financing option for gubernatorial candidates.)
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Environment: Do you believe that human activity is a major factor contributing to climate change?
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Environment: Do you support taking government action to limit the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere?
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Environment: Do you support government mandates and/or subsidies for renewable energy? (See more detail and comparison of candidate views on energy here.)
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes. Wants the state to halve its dependency on heating oil by 2030 by substituting renewables.
Cutler: Yes
Gay Marriage: Do you support gay marriage?
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Gun Control: Do you support enacting more restrictive gun control legislation?
LePage: No
Michaud: No
Cutler: Yes
Healthcare: Do you support the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Healthcare: Should your state accept federal funds so Medicaid will cover people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line?
LePage: No. Opted out of Medicaid expansion.
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Marijuana: Do you support efforts to decriminalize and/or legalize marijuana?
LePage: No
Michaud: Would evaluate CO and WA legalization experience
Cutler: Would evaluate CO and WA legalization experience
Minimum Wage: Do you support raising the minimum wage?
LePage: No
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Social Issues: Should abortion be highly restricted? (See more detail and comparison of candidate views on abortion here.)
LePage: Yes
Michaud: No. Has shifted away from restriction.
Cutler: No
Social Issues: Should employers be able to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if they disagree with it morally?
LePage: Unknown
Michaud: No
Cutler: No
Taxes: Have you signed the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge to oppose any tax increases to raise revenue? (The answer to this question is taken from the database of signatories of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, created by Americans for Tax Reform. Signers to the pledge promise to oppose "any and all tax increases" meant to generate additional revenue.)
LePage: Yes
Michaud: No
Cutler: No
Taxes: Would you increase taxes on corporations and/or high-income individuals to pay for public services?
LePage: No. Did limit some deductions. (LePage strongly opposes tax increases, and promoted Maine's 2011 tax cuts favoring high earners. He later reversed part of these cuts by limiting deductions.)
Michaud: Yes
Cutler: Yes
Learn more about the candidates:
LePage: Paul LePage Vote Smart pages and Paul LePage On the Issues pages
Michaud: Mike Michaud Vote Smart pages and Mike Michaud On the Issues pages
Cutler: Eliot Cutler Vote Smart pages and Eliot Cutler On the Issues pages
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